Lincoln as Republican Candidate

Abraham Lincoln hoped to generate sufficient Whig support for his opposition to Kansas-Nebraska to get him elected to the senate in 1855. But that support failed to materialize, and in 1856, as the Whig party sank lower and lower under the burden of its own divisions, Lincoln joined a new anti-slavery party, the republicans, a coalition of northern Whigs and disgusted northern democrats. He ran against Stephen a. Douglas for the senate in 1858, and together they staged a memorable series of seven debates across Illinois. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln won a national reputation as an enemy of slavery's extension.